Seahawks: Prying Lynch away from Buffalo was steal

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Seattle's Marshawn Lynch (24) will face his former team, the Buffalo Bills, on Sunday.

RENTON - Sunday: Seattle (8-5) vs. Buffalo (5-8) at Toronto

Time: 1:05 p.m.

TV: FOX

Radio: 710 AM/97.3 FM

Pete Carroll pined for a back like Marshawn Lynch since his days as head coach at USC.

Carroll and his coaches put on the full-court press for Lynch when he was a standout at Oakland Tech high school, but Lynch stayed close to home and attended Cal.

Once Carroll got the job as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, he was back on the recruiting trail again, constantly harassing general manager John Schneider to make a deal with Buffalo to get Lynch in the fold.

"There were a number of times where John would look at me and say, 'I just called him last week' and I'd say, 'Just try again,'" Carroll said.

Carroll's persistence finally paid off when Schneider brokered a midseason trade in October 2010 with Buffalo — with Seattle giving up fourth-round pick in the 2011 draft and a fifth-rounder in this year's draft for the physical running back.

The Bills were more than willing to make the trade because it drafted explosive playmaker C.J. Spiller in the first round of the 2010 draft and also had a productive runner in Fred Jackson, and Lynch had his share of off-the-field issues in BUffalo.

The Seahawks have been more than happy with their end of the bargain. In 2 1/2 seasons and 40 games with Seattle, Lynch has rushed for over 3,043 yards and 27 touchdowns, giving Carroll the workhorse he desired.

"I don't know if anything is more symbolic than what we've done with Marshawn and him playing the way he's played, and him being the guys he is," Carroll said. "I think he really is the key element to putting this thing together."

Lynch faces his former team in Buffalo for the first time since he arrived in Seattle on Sunday in Toronto.

Lynch declined comment when asked to revisit his time with the Bills.

"I'm good, boss," Lynch said.

Once again, Lynch let others do the talking for him.

"He's not shy," joked Seattle defensive tackle Brandon Mebane, who played with Lynch at Cal. "If he acts shy, he's frontin' — it's a front. He ain't shy at all."

But one thing Mebane learned from his days trying to bring him down during his time in college — Lynch is hard to tackle.

"He's always been an explosive back — that's who he is," Mebane said. "Seeing him run now and do his thing, it doesn't surprise me. It's like a rerun, just a different number."

Fullback Michael Robinson pointed to Lynch's bow-legged gait as part of the reason for his running prowess.

"He's not pigeon-toed, but he's bow-legged a little bit," Robinson said. "And guys that are bow-legged seem to have better balance as they're cutting — they're cuts are a lot sharper."

"He looks like a little pit bull out there running," Robinson went on. "He's always balanced. He runs bigger than he looks. And he runs faster than he looks, too."

Lynch's relentless effort has been infectious.

"It makes us play harder, knowing he's going to break a couple tackles on a run," Seattle center Max Unger said. "If we can get up there and get some people off of him, he's going to go for extra yards."

Whether Lynch will have extra motivation facing his former team remains to be seen, but Robinson is expecting the same, all-out effort from his backfield mate.

"That's just the type of guy he is," Robinson said. "And you need guys like that on your team. You don't want guys thinking too much.

"Who's next, let's go play and move on."

Breaking out the grey jerseys

The Seahawks announced that the team will wear their third alternate, Wolf Grey jerseys for the first time this season when they take on Buffalo in Toronto. It's the first time Seattle has worn an alternate jersey since the Seahawks wore rave green jerseys at home against Chicago on Sept. 27, 2009.

"There was only one chance that we could do it, so we pick this game out a long time ago," Carroll said.

Seattle was the only NFL that that agreed to a total redesign of the Seahawks' uniforms when Nike took over as the league's designer of uniforms this year.

Also

Receiver Sidney Rice did not practice on Wednesday, watching from the sidelines in a walking boot to protect a bruised foot. Carroll did say there's a chance that Rice will not be available for Sunday's game. ... Cornerback Marcus Trufant (hamstring), safety Kam Chancellor (groin) and defensive end Red Bryant (foot) also didn't practice on Thursday. ... Carroll said John Moffitt and J.R. Sweezy will continue to split time at right guard.